The Statue Thieves get existential on track-by-track for ‘Laniakea’

If you were to dismantle the musical DNA of The Statue Thieves, you’d find a handful of key elements.

Psychedelia looms large, with every scuzz-drenched chord rippling through the kind of bluesy hazes synonymous with Pink Floyd’s early material, while the elixir of their music has been extracted from the LCD-laced waters of 1967. However, the resulting record is infinitely greater than the sum of its parts. ‘Laniakea’ is a 40-minute excursion into the depths of the human experience. Though the band uses psychedelia to transport the listener, it’s a journey so immersive that the record transcends genre.

The semi-conceptual album spans from birth to death, dealing with love, lights, shadows, harmony, substances, war, inner conflicts and the question of whether there is an objective reality. Here, the band break down the record track-by-track and we’re warning you, they get deep…

Laniakea

(Pre-Birth)

The title-track addresses the concept of the spirit being out there before the body exists, unaware of its own existence. The song takes it’s name from the Laniakea Supercluster, which is home to the Milky Way and also means ‘immeasurable heaven’ in Hawaiian.

Why’d Awake Heart

(A new start)

‘Why’d Awake Heart’ is an ironic take on the start of a relationship, coming from someone that is angry because he’s fallen in love and his life has changed. It’s an awakening through love, exploration of bright and dark feelings.

12 Page letter

(Emotions: good and bad)

“Lightning strikes in the same place twice.” “It’s understood, in bad there’s good.” This was written about the aftermath of a relationship. The protagonist is taking drugs and doing certain things to treat their own emotions. “You looked for gold and your soul got sold.” It’s a motto for a relationship, but also for someone selling their integrity. This is an exploration of depth, as a tree who in order to grow higher, needs to expand its roots deeper.

37th Floor

(Memory, Past, Nostalgia)

These lyrics focus on looking back as you move along. “From the 37th floor I see your face once more.”“Forgotten dreams just become memories.” It’s a reflection on the past.

Sweet Valley Midnight

(Hope, happiness, gratitude)

This one’s about taking what you have and what you’ve seen in your memoirs to swim forward instead of sinking down. Midnight is the turning of a new day, and every midnight you’re given a new piece of paper. It’s about having hope and enjoying your surroundings.

Between 3 &7

(Unconscious, present but not there)

This song title is about being in one place at one time and in another one four hours later but not knowing where you’ve been in between. It’s the concept of being in a place physically, but not being there, not finding any memory or any note between 3 and 7 AM.

7-Sided Pyramid

(Realisation, clarity of thoughts)

Having this realisation that everything is connected: nature, animals, Earth, people. The line “everything is one” was actually taken from a documentary from the 60’s in which they were testing LSD on different people and an old housewife keeps repeating “everything is colourful, everything is one”. The knowledge of knowing that there is a purpose for everything makes you feel at ease and in harmony. “Cobwebs on the breeze set your mind at ease”.

Jacob’s Well

(Intoxication, in reality)

‘Jacob’s Well’ was taken from a street in Marylebone, but it then turned out to be a religious reference. It’s about being in reality, but in a completely different mindset. “One foot up in the clouds, two eyes closed for now. Your mind is tuned to finer sound”. You could feel temporarily euphoric, using a substance to treat someone’s pain and feel in paradise, but it’s only sustainable by taking this substance again. For a lot of people holy books are the most solid set of principles, whereas for someone in a different mindset might only be “a fairy tale”. Plural symbolism’s that actually came from unconscious word associations.

So Much Trouble

(Frustration, the unchangeable)

This was written about the things happening around us, the contrast of frustration with the realisation of the power we have in our hands. It’s the possibility to change. Hopelessness about the unchangeable. Where our money goes, war, terrorism, killing at the door. “All the cynics without faith believe in words but it’s not too late to change the future for our young to raise above what we’ve become”. Greed, power, clash of people’s ideology, mindset and ambitions. “But as people we have a choice to live as one or hide our voice, any moment of given time we can change our frame of mind”. Hope, ability to change things and spread the message around us to make a change come our way.

Surpass

(An end, potential beginning)

Starting with the line “I can see my life surpass me”, a song written spontaneously after walking past a cemetery. ‘Surpass’ closes a chapter, it’s the end of the cycle after a long journey. If Laniakea speaks about the existence of a spirit before a body, ‘Surpass’ capsules how music can be a medium to stop time and jump ahead of the expiration of our body, back into the ambiguity of the void.

The concept is orbiting about philosophical and religious theories about the futility of our live. What if none of that existed? What if religions only held a cultural value? What if we are all wrong? Energy, atoms surpassing a breathing body, living past someone’s predecessor

“Take a leaf out of my book and I think you’re one to look.” People are curious, they want and often demand answer about where we are, where we come from and where we are heading. Inspired in a picture of a sunset on Mars. “As horizon meets the land I will take you by the hand.”

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